The present invention relates generally to fuel induction systems for internal combustion engines, and more particularly to vaporizer means for converting wet mixtures of gasoline and air from conventional carburetors into dry mixtures of gasoline vapor and air for purposes of improved gasoline combustion and cleaner engine exhausts.
It is well known that gasoline fuel burns most efficiently in an internal combustion engine when it is in the form of a vapor. The conventional carburetor does not convert all of the gasoline passing therethrough into vapor, a substantial portion being, instead, merely broken up into tiny droplets that remain suspended in the intake air when the resulting mixture is drawn through the manifold and into the cylinders of an engine. While some vaporization takes place, a substantial portion of the gas remains in the form of liquid droplets in the cylinder head at the time the mixture is ignited by the spark. These liquid fuel droplets burn inefficiently, or incompletely, with the result that the engine exhaust contains an excessive amount of unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide as air pollutants which contribute to the formation of atmospheric smog. Nitrogen oxide is also formed, as a smog-producing pollutant in the exhaust, because of high combustion temperatures in the engine, particularly at the point where the exhaust gases pass through the exhaust ports during the first few degrees of valve opening. These high temperatures are brought about when minute droplets of liquid fuel, still unburned, are vaporized by the heat of combustion to mix with the remaining oxygen, so that afterwards there is delayed combustion at an exceedingly high temperature when the gas is passed between the face of the valve and the valve seat. This high temperature is responsible for formation of the nitrogen oxide found in internal combustion engine exhaust gases.
In addition to the above-noted disadvantages of the incomplete combustion of gasoline brought about by incomplete vaporization thereof in carburetors, there is a further disadvantage in the face that such incomplete combustion results in deposits of carbon on interior engine surfaces. Furthermore, incomplete fuel combustion is wasteful of energy, a serious enough problem in the past but one which is now approaching catastrophic proportions because of oil shortages in this country and the rising price of imported oil from the oil-producing nations.
There has been considerable research and development over the years in attempts to modify carburetor-equipped engines for purposes of achieving better fuel economy. In more recent years, such research and development has been accelerated in hopes of finding some means of lowering the output of pollutants in automobile engine exhausts. In still more recent years, the oil shortage crisis has prompted still further efforts to produce carburetor-equipped engines capable of getting more miles per gallon of fuel than do conventional engines. In spite of all these attempts to improve the fuel burning efficiency of internal combustion engines, no means of achieving this objective has, to my knowledge, yet met with widespread commercial acceptance. While various engine attachments for use in conjunction with carburetors for the vaporization of fuel have been heretofore proposed, and even patented, none is in widespread usage by the automobile industry (or anyone else) insofar as I am aware. In view of the critical need today for more efficient fuel burning engines, the absence of such widespread usage of any fuel vaporization means heretofore known is clear evidence that no such means capable of meeting the stringent demands of the marketplace have been provided prior to my invention. The main purpose of the invention is to fill the long existing need for such fuel vaporization means.